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Edwin "Edgar" Coleman Everly |
Edwin
"Edgar" Coleman Everly was born in 1867 in or near
Kingwood, Preston County, WV, the son of Absalom
and Sarah (Carroll) Everly. He also was known as Edward, Edgar and Ed.
Edwin married Myrtle (?) (1870-1957). They apparently had no children.
After spending his early career as a teacher,
presumably in Preston County, Edwin ran a dry goods store in
Kingwood, known as "E.C. Everly & Co." or for short, "Everly''s."
Edgar often placed prominent advertisements in the local newspaper, the Preston County
Journal, offering the public a variety of new items for sale.
Later, the Everlys apparently moved to Morgantown, WV, where Edwin became prominent in legal circles, serving for three terms as County Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Monongalia County, WV. Seen at right is the red brick Monongalia County Courthouse in Morgantown, where Edwin would have had his offices.
He also served as justice of the peace in Kingwood, and was a farmer in addition to that. During his term as justice of the peace, circa 1930, Edgar's name appeared in each issue of the weekly Preston County Journal in a county directory. The Everlys resided on Main Street in Kingwood during their final years.
As with their grandfather James Miner Carroll, Edwin and his brother John Amaziah "J. Ami" Everly were active in the Kingwood Methodist-Episcopal Church. In fact, Edwin is mentioned six different times in a 1950 booklet, entitled Through the Years: A History of Methodism in Kingwood, West Virginia, authored by Ethel Peaslee Beerbower. His activities recorded in this slim volume range from serving on the church governing board to forming a church brotherhood and organizing church reunions.
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Everly store advertisement, in the Preston County Journal, March 1906 |
Circa 1904, Edwin signed a church resolution praising Rev. H.C. Howard for having "rendered the most efficient and satisfactory service in all departments of the church; his sermons having been exceptionally helpful and uplifting and deeply spiritual; his work as pastor among the membership has been faithfully cared for and under his pastorate the church has made continuous growth along all lines as is evidenced by the spiritual, financial, social and numerical condition of the church." In February 1913, he and 29 other men of the church were charter members of "The Craig Brotherhood of the Kingwood Methodist Church," with Edwin elected president. Three years later, in September 1916, he served on a committee to organize a Methodist Church Reunion "held in the new armory and was deemed a great success. The armory was filled with tables and between 250 and 300 were served. Good fellowship was manifest." He also was Sunday School superintendent in 1916, and was still in this role in September 1932 during a "Home-coming and Basket Dinner." In February 1921, he was on a planning committee to consider adding a kitchen to the church.
Myrtle,
also active in the Kingwood Methodist Church, was a charter member of the
Woman's Society of Christian Service when it was formed on Sept. 10, 1940. Its
purpose was to raise funds for home and foreign missions work.
Edwin passed away at the age of 73 on Jan. 11, 1941, of cardiac failure, with asthma as a contributing cause. His funeral was "one of the largest ever held in Kingwood," reported the Journal. He was laid to rest at Kingwood's Maplewood Cemetery.
Myrtle outlived her husband by 16 years. She passed away in 1957, at the age of 87, and is buried beside Edgar.
Copyright © 2002-2008 Mark A. Miner